Lynn Hershman Leeson

News

Recent

Radical Software: Women, Art & Computing 1960–1991

“A dialogue emerges between the human and the technological, evoking the hybrid figure of the cyborg. This connection is explored in the exhibition through works that present a new relationship between the body and technology. X-Ray Woman FIG.8 and Self-Portrait as Another Person FIG.9 by Lynn Hershman Leeson (b.1941) probe the fluidity of identity, blurring the lines between who we are and who we might become. In Self-Portrait as Another Person, a wax cast of the artist’s face, disguised with a wig and lipstick, becomes a medium for reflecting on the ambiguity of selfhood and the illusion of control. The sound of her breath, recorded during a stay in hospital, along with a sensor that triggers personal questions, prompts the viewer to reconsider identity as something suspended between the real and the artificial. Hershman Leeson’s work questions the notion of a stable subject, positioning technology as an extension of both body and psyche – a vehicle for mining the complexity of being. Anticipating post-human thought, her practice prefigures Donna J. Haraway’s cyborg theory, which holds that the body is not confined to its biological essence but shaped by technology. This also resonates with Legacy Russell’s ‘glitch feminism’, which sees the glitch as an interruption of conventions that opens pathway to non-binary and non-normative identities.”

Lynn Hershman Leeson earns ranking on ArtReview’s Power 100 List for 2024

"Gauging spheres of influence and schools of thought is about more than momentary fads. The Power 100 list is an annual tally of who and what made art happen during the past 12 months. It’s a structural portrait of international contemporary art,...

Vital Signs: Artists and the Body at MoMA

“Behind this mask, another mask; I will never be done with removing all these faces,” wrote artist and poet Claude Cahun in 1930. Throughout the 20th century, artists have imagined the body and ideas of the self as fluid and open to ongoing...
Future Tense: Art, Complexity, and Uncertainty at UC Irvine’s Beall Center for Art

Future Tense: Art, Complexity, and Uncertainty at UC Irvine’s Beall Center for Art

In partnership with the 2024 Getty PST ART initiative, the UC Irvine Beall Center for Art + Technology is proud to present Future Tense: Art, Complexity, and Uncertainty. The exhibition will feature ...
25 Essential AI Artworks: Agent Ruby

25 Essential AI Artworks: Agent Ruby

“If Ruby gets confused, feel free to tell her.” So read the instructions for Agent Ruby, an online piece that can converse with users. In a chat window, visitors submit their questions to Ruby, who ...
To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection

To Exalt the Ephemeral: The (Im)permanent Collection draws from BAMPFA’s art and film collections to explore how museums collect, care for, and amplify the work of artists who celebrate ideas of ...
Archive Rooms: Selections from Special Collections at Stanford Libraries – Ongoing

Archive Rooms: Selections from Special Collections at Stanford Libraries – Ongoing

A San Francisco-based filmmaker and multimedia artist, Lynn Hershman Leeson is widely recognized for her prescient work in media-based practices and commentary on the relationship between people and ...
Lynn Hershman Leeson Film Retrospective at MoMA – June 7-20, 2024

Lynn Hershman Leeson Film Retrospective at MoMA – June 7-20, 2024

This retrospective features Hershman Leeson’s complete, four-part “Cyborg Series,” including Cyborgian Rhapsody – Immortality (2023), which was written, performed, and designed by an artificial ...
Seduction of a Cyborg Screens at MAMCO Genève

Seduction of a Cyborg Screens at MAMCO Genève

"In her video Seduction of a Cyborg (1994), technology is illustrated as an infectious disease that destroys a woman’s immune system. A blind protagonist agrees to receive physical treatment to restore ...
Exhibition: GUARDIANS

Exhibition: GUARDIANS

Logic Paralyzes the Heart (2022) and Missing Child Born 2019 (2021) are featured in GUARDIANS at Walburger Gallery in Brussels. The exhibition runs from April 24, 2023 until June 1, 2024. Read more here.
Exhibition: Anti-Aging

Exhibition: Anti-Aging

Lynn Hershman Leeson's work is featured at Bridget Donahue Gallery in New York, NY. The exhibition runs from April 4th to May 18th, 2024.